Biodiversity Hotspots and Major Tropical Wilderness Areas: Approaches to Setting Conservation...
Mittermeier, Russell A.; Myers, Norman; Thomsen, Jorgen B.; Da Fonseca, Gustavo A. B.; Olivieri, Silvio
1998-06-17 00:00:00
(3) (4) (5) In the first paper on biodiversity hotspots, Myers (1988) used plants as indicators for biodiversity and identified 10 tropical rain-forest hotspots containing an estimated 13% of all plant diversity in just 0.2% of the total land area of the planet. In a subsequent analysis (1990), he added several other rain-forest areas and four mediterranean-type ecosystems resulting in a total of 18 areas that accounted for 20% of global plant diversity in just 0.5% of the land area. In 1989 Conservation International (CI 1990a) and the MacArthur Foundation were the first organizations to adopt Myersâ hotspots as the guiding principle for their conservation investment, with CI slightly modifying and expanding Myersâ list to include areas overlooked in the original analyses (CI 1990b). The major tropical wilderness area approach was developed simultaneously by Myers (1988, 1990) and Mittermeier (see CI 1990a). This ap- Conservation Biology, Pages 516â520 Volume 12, No. 3, June 1998 Issues in International Conservation The present reassessment of the biodiversity hotspots approach began in 1996 and is still underway. Therefore, what we present here are some initial conclusions; a more detailed presentation will be available in the near future. Our analysis is based first
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Abstract

(3) (4) (5) In the first paper on biodiversity hotspots, Myers (1988) used plants as indicators for biodiversity and identified 10 tropical rain-forest hotspots containing an estimated 13% of all plant diversity in just 0.2% of the total land area of the planet. In a subsequent analysis (1990), he added several other rain-forest areas and four mediterranean-type ecosystems resulting in a total of 18 areas that accounted for 20% of global plant diversity in just 0.5% of the land area. In 1989 Conservation International (CI 1990a) and the MacArthur Foundation were the first organizations to adopt Myersâ hotspots as the guiding principle for their conservation investment, with CI slightly modifying and expanding Myersâ list to include areas overlooked in the original analyses (CI 1990b). The major tropical wilderness area approach was developed simultaneously by Myers (1988, 1990) and Mittermeier (see CI 1990a). This ap- Conservation Biology, Pages 516â520 Volume 12, No. 3, June 1998 Issues in International Conservation The present reassessment of the biodiversity hotspots approach began in 1996 and is still underway. Therefore, what we present here are some initial conclusions; a more detailed presentation will be available in the near future. Our analysis is based first